Posted on 12/12/2005 7:58:46 AM PST by Brilliant
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court said Monday it would consider the constitutionality of a Texas congressional map engineered by Rep. Tom DeLay that helped Republicans gain seats in Congress.
The 2003 boundaries helped Republicans win 21 of the state's 32 seats in Congress in the last election_ up from 15. They were approved amid a nasty battle between Republican leaders and Democrats and minority groups in Texas.
The contentiousness also reached Washington, where the Justice Department approved the plan although staff lawyers concluded that it diluted minority voting rights. Because of historic discrimination against minority voters, Texas is required to get Justice Department approval for any voting changes to ensure they don't undercut minority voting.
Justices will consider a constitutional challenge to the boundaries filed by various opponents. The court will hear two hours of arguments, likely in April, in four separate appeals.
The legal battle at the Supreme Court was over the unusual timing of the Texas redistricting, among other things. Under the Constitution, states must adjust their congressional district lines every 10 years to account for population shifts.
But in Texas the boundaries were redrawn twice after the 2000 census, first by a court, then by state lawmakers in a second round promoted by DeLay.
DeLay had to step down as House Majority Leader earlier this year after he was indicted in Texas on state money laundering charges.
DeLay and two people who oversaw his fundraising activities are accused of funneling prohibited corporate political money through the national Republican Party to state GOP legislative candidates. Texas law prohibits spending corporate money on the election or defeat of a candidate.
The alleged scheme was part of a plan DeLay and others set in motion to help Republicans win control of the Texas House in 2002 elections. The Republican Legislature then adopted a DeLay-backed congressional voting district map.
Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, called lawmakers back for three special sessions in 2003 to tackle the map, despite vehement opposition from Democrats who walked out and even left the state to halt progress. In the end, DeLay brokered a redistricting agreement.
DeLay was later rebuked by the House Ethics Committee for using the Federal Aviation Administration to track down a private plane that shuttled some Democratic lawmakers out of the state.
The Texas case has been to the Supreme Court once before, and justices ordered a lower court to reconsider the boundaries following a decision in another redistricting case from Pennsylvania. Justices in that opinion left little room for lawsuits claiming that political gerrymandering — drawing a map to give one political party an advantage — violates the "one-person, one-vote" principle protected in the Constitution.
However, now the court will have a chance to revisit that issue and the outcome could change because the court's membership is changing. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is retiring, and Chief Justice John Roberts has been on the bench just a few months.
A lower court panel ruled that the map is not unconstitutional and does not violate federal voting rights law.
The was used in 2004 elections, and Texas elected one additional black congressman besides the six additional GOP members. Of the 32 seats, six delegation members are Hispanic and three are black.
The cases are League of United Latin v. Perry, 05-204; Travis County v. Perry, 05-254; Jackson v. Perry, 05-276; GI Forum of Texas v. Perry, 05-439.
Gee, what a shock, the courts are going to continue to (selectively) intervene where it could hurt Republicans.
I wonder if the GOP is even challenging the gerrymandering in Dem states. Our leaders don't seem to care.
Gotta love the first sentence.
so I suppose this means they'll also take a look at Cynthia McKinney's district here in Georgia that runs like a crooked creek and is only a few hundred yards wide at points..right?? oh wait, that would be racist..
We have one of those here in Indiana 75 miles long 5 miles wide to just touch the black section of another town.
If they are going to consider gerrymandering in Texas, then they should also consider gerrymandering in NY and California.
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True. But lets not forget that the SCOTUS is now a liberal activist body. Certainly, if the socialists on the Court can find a way, they will SELECTIVELY rule against any Repub supporting measure.
The 'rats want their gerrymandered districts back.
Breyer has been trying to get Kennedy on board for this for years. Seems like he has got him on board.
Not only will they give the dems the seats back in texas they will also make precedent a ruling about minority district's represenation which will help democrats for decades to come.
What is really annoying is the dems complained about Delay and then tried the same thing in Ohio. What hypocrites.
Their are four definate anti delay votes in breyer, stevens, ginsberg, souter.
The key vote will be Kennedy who will rule with the liberals. He doesn't believe in states rights and always rules with the liberals in cases like this. He will also say that minorities were disenfranchised in session's district and need equal representation.
The dem traitors in justice dept also leaked out that memo. The lower court said it was constitutional 3-0 but that will not stop the very liberal supreme court.
Prediction dems win 5-4 like they do all the time and have a new powerful precedent to help pelosi become speaker for the next decade.
We either lose with O'Conner on social issues or Kennedy on states rights issues. We will lose 5-4 again. Kennedy was a disasterous pick by Reagan. Biden was the one that suggested him.
Why are they even looking at this? Isnt it the right of every state to set districting rules?
In my judgment as a practitioner of election law in the Supreme Court, this will produce a bitterly split decision which upholds the lower court decisions.
As for the argument that this was "two redistictings in one decade," the Constitution and federal law require that the "legislature" of each state should conduct the redistricting. The first redistricting in Texas occurred when a federal court overturned what the legislature had done, and installed its own plan. I do not think the Court will rule that the substitution of a court plan for a legislative one, is a "legislative" decision. If so, there was only one "legislative" redistricting, and that argument collapses of its own weight.
Congressman Billybob
They should also look into the gerrrymandering the Dems are trying to do with President Bush's selection of those who he has the right to pick and put on the supreme court.
Anyone have a date for Texas primary next year.
Considering that they will rule on this at the end of June could they change the districts back in time for 06?
If they rule for the dems and leave it to 08 that also puts the gop candidates in a bad position.
This is something both sides have done far too often over the years. I hope there is a court ruling which lays out clearly what can and cannot be done - no matter who is in the majority at any particular time.
When I lived in Houston, the district I lived in was just like yours.
Specifically carved out by Democrats to give a seat to Barbara Jordan, then Lee Washington, and then to the lovely Sheila Jackson Lee.
Texas is just about the most heavily Republican state in the nation.It stands to reason that most of its Congressmen are Republican.
How about they take a look at the gerrymandered district in NC-12th I think that Mel Watt represents-it's lay out is worse than Cynthia McKinney's in GA.
The funny thing is for Delay personally it would be better if he could have his old district back. Delay added in Galveston to his new district. That is his opponent Lampson's base.
Delay's district before was a rock solid conservative district that the dems would have a much harder time winning than his new district.
The strangest election last year was Chet Edwards overcoming Bush just crushing Kerry in his district. Edwards won in 2002 in a swing district 52-47 then he moved to a new district that was much more conservative and he still won 51-48. Delay should have traded some of Joe Barton's district with Waco which would have left Edwards out of congress.
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